Inside information about a range of high impact leadership and communications topics

Communication

Launching a communications advisory

It’s official! Otter Advisory 2.0 is now live. I’ve worn many hats in my career: crime reporter, technical writer, freelance ...

Communication

Interview: Five Questions with Frank Wolf

Last week I reviewed The Narrative Age by Frank Wolf - essential reading for communicators and...

Reputation

Review: The Narrative Age by Frank Wolf

Very few communicators or leaders succeed in articulating clearly and simply the distinction...

Communication Reputation

Reputation, part deux

Reputation is complex and multi-aspect. In my last post, I asked if you're a CEO leading a B2B, how...

Reputation Matters

In B2C customers buy from brands, but in B2B they buy from people. This is why CEOs need to focus...

An image of a buffet of food, including cold meat, cheese, fruit and crackers

Cooking with words

Last week I wrote my 54-year writing biography on LinkedIn. It encompassed falling in love with...

Comms champions: Focus on André Schwämmlein, CEO of Flixbus

CEOs are naturally authorities - they lead companies, after all. However, very few CEOs demonstrate...

Picture of a small child shouting or singing into a microphone

Marketing and communications: What's the difference?

In the last two weeks I have been asked this question more than once. Having worked mostly in large...

Communication

I tried to break up with my phone

I tried to break up with my phone. It didn't go that well.

Picture of two novels by Charlotte Otter - Karkloof Blue and Balthasar's Gift

Five things I learned from novel-writing

Here are five things I learned writing and publishing two novels that are relevant to my work today:

Pic of a plug disconnected from a socket

Fixing the disconnect - Time for leaders to scrap their cognitive biases and communicate for impact

The disconnect between leaders and employees is real and urgent. Here are some thoughts on...

HRTech

Caddies and players. Angels and founders. Pitching and pitches.

First warning: I'm not a very good golfer, but I'm very good at watching it on TV. My favourite...

Communication

Comms champions - the early stage leaders who are acing it

Early stage leaders are their own corporate communications department. On top of founding a...

HRTech

Beeline acquires Utmost

Jason and I have known the folks at Utmost for some time. In my Gartner days I met Annrai, it was...

HRTech

Payroll part 2: Where's it going? My conjecture.

Payroll: My conjecture My last post covered the payroll past. Now we’re here for the near future....

Communication

Meet me at Unleash

After a great talk with the very insightful Leoni Janssen earlier this year, I wrote the following...

Book with the words 'From the real experts' written across the top

Communication

Is Thought Leadership over?

There is a moment when I'm talking to an expert about a topic that is meaningful to them and their...

HRTech

Payroll: where it started. And the first product demo.

HRTech

The deck isn't where it's at. Advice for founders pitching to VC.

I have seen 1000s of software pitches, as a Gartner analyst, and now as a VC. Today most founders...

HRTech

HRTECH in Las Vegas

No, this isn't Paris. I'll be there in October. It is Las Vegas. I'll be there on 13th to 16th of...

Communication

Understanding change mindsets

Has your leadership team decided on an important change programme and you can’t get employees...

Communication

Why leaders avoid comms

Communicating should be as easy as breathing. After all, it is something we all do. It is part of...

An array of post-it notes on a board for a strategy or planning meeting

Communication

Becoming a non-executive director

I want to work on boards as a non-executive director. Having worked as an executive (SAP) and now...

Communication

Comms champions - the leaders who are acing it

It's important to highlight leaders who are doing an incredible job with their communications....

Communication

The science of engagement - how to break through the noise

I see companies with great products. They are designing new categories. Their customers love them....

Communication

Hobbits rule. Or, it’s not all PR, people

Companies that weight their communications budgets towards PR are ignoring their most important...

Communication

Launching a communications advisory

It’s official! Otter Advisory 2.0 is now live. I’ve worn many hats in my career: crime reporter,...

HRTech

What's next for Otter Advisory?

In October 2018 I started Otter Advisory with the aim of helping future of work/HR tech companies...

HRTech

Paris and the future of work: Acadian Venture's investment in Fifty.

I’ve become very fond of Paris. I’ve probably been there 20 times or so over the years. My first...

HRTech

Ask Acadian: Having Effective Dates and Permissions in HRtech!

Our firm is a bit unusual, in that Jason and I spent most of our careers working in HRtech before...

HRTech

Why Acadian invested in Techwolf’s Series A.

cross posted on Acadian Insights. Ghent is a beautiful city in Belgium, with a storied history, an...

HRTech

HRTECH, VC, Berlin, Mexico City and an Acadian Ventures investment

I'm going to Berlin in June, I'll be attending a VC/LP conference. Jason is coming over, and it...

HRTech

The expanding DAX, Germany and HR TECH: A perspective.

HRTech

I'm becoming a Venture Capitalist

When I left SAP, one of the first things I did was to invest in an unproven venture capital fund...

HRTech

Demo Data matters: Advice for #HRtech vendors.

(via https://chicagolandhomestaging.com/home-staging-transformation-burr-ridge/)

It is done.

I'm happy to report the #DIPSI is done. I've made new friends, both in the student cohort and with...

HRTech

Culture: Why it matters in your HRTECH company.

Last week I was in Cascais, Portugal. It is a beautiful place. Running along the coast road in the...

HRTech

What's your theory? Applying the Value Lab to HRTECH.

I'm sitting in a cafe in Florence writing this. 500 years ago Florence was the centre of so much...

3 years in: HRTECH and all that.

HRTech

A Product Management lesson from the Eiffel Tower

I gave a talk this week on HR TECH architecture, and I riffed a bit about Eiffel Tower. Have a read...

HRTech

Talking about HRTECH Architecture at HR.com

I used to do quite a lot of presentations and public speaking, at SAP and at Gartner.

HRTech

Continuous Discovery, HRTECH Product Management and Kangaroos

I've stolen a bit of a very old post here, and reworked it.

SaaS product power Breakfast with guest Tim Geisenheimer - Clubhouse 2021-08-10 17_00_46

HRTech

Product Management in Small vs Large Companies via SaaS Product Power Breakfast

HRTech

Notes on Product led growth (PLG) via SaaS Product Power Breakfast

HRTech

HR TECH startups: beware the massive company deal.

This post was triggered by something I read on LinkedIn the other day

HRTech

Product Management with Holger Mueller of Constellation Research.

I've known Holger for ages. I've worked with him in product and as an analyst. He knows heaps about...

HRTech

Delivering a compelling product presentation or panel discussion

I should be writing something about HRTECH today, but I got distracted.

HRTech

Understanding Industry Analysts

(image via Michael Myers, thanks)

HRTech

Product Management and Open Source

Earlier this year (last semester) I had the pleasure of helping out Prof Dirk Riehle with his...

HRTech

German payroll gets interesting.

Payroll was where it all started. Back in 1951. The first business use of computer software. The...

HRTech

Talking Product with Top HRTECH Product Manager, Murali Mazhavanchery. TSPPB #8

HRTech

What Enterprise Application vendors can learn from SME: 'dev ecosystems'

Alternative title: We are going on a bear hunt with Kafka.

HRTech

SaaS and the Sex Pistols (yes, I know this will confuse the SEO).

"Listen, I this is absolutely awesome content and I can't believe there were so few people here,...

HRTech

Joining the Board of Basis Technologies

The SaaS Product Power Breakfast #6

HRTech

The SaaS Product Power Breakfast Podcast is now available

(this iPhone pro takes awesome pics)

Kids looking at newspaper. in the 1950s.

HRTech

SaaS Product Power Breakfast #4. With special guest Anshu Sharma!

Dave and I are getting into the swing of the power breakfast thing on clubhouse. Every Thursday,...

HRTech

Incumbents aren't always incumbent. The case of Employee Communications.

Don't be afraid of the establishment A start up leader told me the other day that they didn‘t want...

HRTech

The second SaaS product power breakfast on clubhouse. Thomas interviews Dave

The SaaS Product Power Breakfast Second Edition. This week’s product power breakfast will, in...

HRTech

HRTECH Product Managers: Decouple Application and UI Now. Learn from Disney!

I think about user experiences and user interfaces a lot, but I'm not a designer. I buy a lot of...

HRTech

SaaS Product Power Breakfasts, Thursdays at 8 AM Pacific on Clubhouse

So I'm going to give this Clubhouse thing a spin. Dave Kellogg and I are going to be doing a show...

HRTech

A new website and an HRTECH newsletter

Time flies. Having been in business for over 2 years, I figured it was time to re-do the website,...

HRTech

HR departments. Include M&A scenarios in your HRTECH planning.

I’ve been involved directly and indirectly in M&A in some form or other throughout my career. I...

HRTech

What Enterprise HR Product Managers can learn from SME

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HRTech

On International Women's Day

HRTech

Strategy in nascent markets: Utmost and the extended workforce.

My regular merry band of readers may remember I’m spending time studying strategy. I figured as I...

Carlsberg – Probably the best ad in the world. – I wish I'd thought of that

The Carlsberg of product managers joins Unit4.

Carlsberg ad. Carlsberg beer has/had the tongue in check tagline, “probably the best beer in the...

Workday and Peakon. My take.

Workday agreed to acquire Peakon yesterday. There is an obvious logic to this deal. Engagement...

A guest lecture on Product Management at FAU.

Thanks to Prof Dirk Riehle, I get to do a guest lecture to the COSS masters class at...

Lego, enterprise architecture and the job advert.

Who's your pick for 2021? pic.twitter.com/j8iHnzPjyR — Ethics in Bricks (@EthicsInBricks)

Salesforce and Slack. Mind the gap.

I’m not one to try and get a razor sharp analysis out before I have had my tea and rashers. There...

Business woman making talk to the hand gesture - isolated over white

How not to work with HRTECH start-ups. The enterprise edition.

"Be cautious about generalizing, especially if it leads you to the conclusion that other people are...

HRTech

M&A in HR TECH: Theory meets practice. iCIMS acquires EASYRECRUE.

M&A book M&A Strategy at Oxford: Last month I attended the first module of the Oxford Post Graduate...

Zooming in on your front-end and our old friend the API: Some Advice for HRTECH product managers, designers and their long suffering users.

I have pontificated on APIs and Frontend strategy more than once, so I expect there will be some...

Inside information about a range of high impact leadership and communications topics

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